Article Five
by VioletzeEcoFreak
Summary: The Treaty of Versailles was mostly decided by the Big Four: Britain, America, France, and Italy. But that doesn't mean New Zealand and the other British Dominions weren't there either.


A/N: For all my lovelies, that (sort of) promised New Zealand/fem!Canada fic. As to be expected, you're being warned for multiple OCs and some gender bending. I swear, that's not the only sort of fic I write. Really.

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New Zealand bit his lip and nervously ran his hand along his bandaged arm. Versailles was far fancier than he had ever expected, and he was feeling downright intimidated. Australia, standing next to him, seemed more amused than anything. But that was how his goddamn younger brother acted, so he would have to tolerate it.

Then again, they weren't really there for anything else, so why not admire the scenery?

Because, New Zealand forcefully reminded himself, he and his brother were attending one of the most important conferences in world history. And as much as the occasional war meeting could do with their constant bickering and foolishness, it was necessary to cheer up their fellow Dominions and colonies, this was not one of those moments.

When the brothers arrived they were seated near England, of course they were, with his siblings around him and his favourite children sitting around them. New Zealand sat between South Africa and Australia and looked awkwardly down the table where he saw India, Newfoundland, and his other half-sister. India looked as scornful and angry as she had before the war, now with the addition of bandages around her head (New Zealand noted sadly all three of his half-sisters had continued to keep their normally long hair short, in more masculine styles) and her notable loss of weight. Newfoundland looked far too weak to be sitting at this political discussion. He noted vaguely that she had been almost shredded to pieces early in the war, much to his horror. His other half-sister looked very subdued and battered, and was biting her lip so hard New Zealand was worried it would begin bleeding.

When the debating got started New Zealand realised his presence was nothing more than a reminder. Not for Britain or the Allies, but for Germany and his brother, who seemed far more exhausted than any of them and were being shouted down by any number of the Allies.

America burst in with more shouting and the half-sister whose name escaped New Zealand looked up at him with a mixture of disappointment and disdain. Their resemblance was striking, he realised, and tried to place a name to Dominion he knew he should know.

Every day it seemed they would quarrel more and more as their bosses fought their own debates elsewhere. France wanted full compensation for the damage Germany caused, as did Belgium, and America was being idealistic and wanted to have a treaty with no victors and equality for all, and England seemed to be checking his desire to speak out against all of them. None of the Dominions got a chance to provide input, although some of them paid attention when America briefly discussed the notion of self-decision. India seemed to be itching to shout, "Yes, I agree!" while Newfoundland looked uneasy with the idea.

New Zealand lost track of the amount of days he spent listening to the arguing of the nations around him. He was soon reverting back to his old ways of passing the time, arguing with Australia as subtly as he could by scribbling messages at each other. No one seemed worried that two of the members of the British Empire were terribly distracted. Perhaps that was because all six of them were fussing with other things. At any rate, no one gave New Zealand even a brief glance.

When the nations around him finally started signing the treaty, New Zealand heard Australia let out a loud sigh of relief. England turned to him and gave his brother a positively threatening glare before standing to sign the treaty himself. He was the final signer and others were already gathering their things to leave. However, when he passed by his female Dominions he gave the half-sister he couldn't name a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. She stood abruptly and everyone fell silent. England nodded approvingly towards her and she limped to the treaty with single-minded determination. As she passed America's seat he stood.

"Here, Marie--" he said, extending his hand. She slapped it away sharply with her uninjured hand. They shared a long look, and America sat back down, subdued. And _oh_, they looked so alike New Zealand realised in an instant they were twins. But her name continued to escape him. When she finally signed the paper she didn't immediately back away. Instead, she twisted and looked straight at Newfoundland.

"Nessa," she called in her faint, shivering voice. Newfoundland stood and tried to walk towards her sister at the same time as India did. They were struggling so much to walk that they put their arms around each other and supported the other until they reached the treaty as well. When they made it Australia stood up, walking tall and straight-backed and smiling broadly in spite of his injuries and South Africa stood to follow. Finally, New Zealand stood up and followed his twin and half-brother. He put his name down last, and saw that all six of them had grouped their names small and tight towards the bottom. India, Newfoundland, South Africa, Australia, himself, and Canada.

Canada! That was who his half-sister was. He hadn't seen much of her during the war, avoiding the Western Front with everything he had in him, but he'd heard the stories. If Britain was the lion of Europe, Canada was the lioness of the colonies. Or, perhaps, she was the mother bear. The stories of her ferocity and strength on the Western Front had awed him on the field. New Zealand realised with a start he was staring and looked to his other half-siblings. When all six of the Dominions were there and had signed, they shared a lingering look.

"We did it," Australia whispered with a good-natured grin. "This is one step to our independence." No one laughed, but they all managed sort-of smiles. Even Newfoundland.

Now there was muttering from the other proper countries and England looked very smug indeed.

"They are only colonies," France said coldly.

"I'm certain they're glad to know you appreciated their efforts to help you," England replied. France flushed angrily. Canada took two steps forward.

"Papa, this 'colony' gave her flesh and blood to protect you." Her eyes were hard. "Allow us this much recognition for our efforts." She turned on her heel and went back to her seat, giving England only the briefest nod. India smiled, clearly enjoying Canada's fire.

When they were finally able to escape Versailles and go back to the hotels they were staying in, Canada couldn't get to the car fast enough.

"Can we please just _go_?" she asked England.

"Don't take that tone, Canada," he reminded her coolly. "We're leaving in a few minutes." Newfoundland took Canada's uninjured arm gently and used her as a support. India took her other side. The girls walked three abreast, and New Zealand realised that it looked like they were protecting Canada as much as she was holding them up.

In the car the girls got the seats, with the boys sitting on the floor at their legs and England up in the front. His siblings, it seemed, were not too eager to ride with him. New Zealand couldn't help but look up at Canada every few minutes, to see if she had stopped staring at her knees despondently. He could remember her better now, had seen her just before Canada and her boys were sent to the front, with her long hair in two even braids and her eyes bright behind her glasses.

"I'm going to fight alongside them and you won't stop me!" she had shouted at England. The man hardly seemed taken aback at being shouted at by his oldest Dominion.

"If you want to insist on being part of the war, join the nurses. We could always use more aid," he said serenely.

"No!" Canada shouted back. "I want to _fight_. I want to help you, Father. I want to help Papa!"

"You are simply too young," England replied. "War is not something a young woman should experience."

"You let Nessa go without a fuss," Canada said pointedly. "And you're calling India for help."

"Newfoundland," England said, clearly frustrated, "has all the tact of a fisherman's wife and the stubbornness of an ass. She would leave whether I allowed her or not." He turned to Canada again. "And India is older, she knows how to handle war. You are too young and lack the strength to fight. You will either go as a nurse or stay here," he said firmly. His tone was his old one, the one he used when he wanted to finished arguments.

"Then I'll go with Australia, or… New Zealand," she declared, catching sight on him at the doorway. "They'll take me in. I'm going to fight Germany, Father. You can't stop me." And England had looked so furious New Zealand almost thought it was funny.

Later that night she had appeared at Australia and New Zealand's door with a pair of kitchen shears.

"Cut my hair so I look like a boy," she had asked grimly. "So that my boys will take me seriously." Australia had done the job. New Zealand couldn't stand to see that long wheat-gold hair cut off with a few careless snips of some shears. He was tempted to hold on to one of the braids, keep it as a good luck charm or something stupid like that, but in the end he'd let the beautiful braids end up in the garbage with the rest of the little chunks of hair.

When they escaped the pack car Canada couldn't get to her hotel room fast enough. She slammed the door behind her before even Newfoundland and India could follow her inside and the boys knew they had no hope of seeing why she was so desperate to be alone.

After a few minutes of talking to Australia New Zealand found himself standing outside Canada's door. He wasn't sure why, he knew Canada wouldn't let him in, but he felt like he needed to do this. He knocked softly, once, twice, three times, and waited. He could hear a bit of shuffling from beyond the door and held his hands tightly behind his back, rubbing his thumb against the middle of his palm uneasily.

Canada opened the door slowly, just peeking out of the small crack. What New Zealand could see of her face was red and her cheeks looked tearstained.

"'M not hungry," she mumbled. "An' I don't feel like doin' something tonight." She sniffled and rubbed her nose with the back of her left hand.

"Can I come in?" New Zealand asked, trying to sound calm while inside he felt uncharacteristically nervous. He was only talking to Canada, after all, and no matter how frightening she was on the field she was nice enough otherwise.

"O-Of course," she replied, trying to smother a hiccup under her hand. She opened the door a little wider for him and stepped away. She was quick to shut the door behind him. "Is there something you need to talk about?" she asked, rubbing at her red cheeks with her sleeve, trying to remove evidence of the fact she'd been crying.

"I was worried about you," he confessed. "You seemed really upset after what France said."

"France is my papa, and it does hurt a little when he doesn't recognise what I do independently of what Father does," Canada said briefly. She nibbled her lip again and New Zealand could see she had caused it to bleed sometime during the talks. Why was he noticing this _now_?

"I don't think any of us Dominions got the recognition we wanted," he finally said. "Not even Newfoundland's content with the way things are anymore, and we all know how loyal she is to Father." He wrung his fingers behind his back. He felt the urge to grip Canada's shoulder and smooth her unfortunate, short hair.

"She's still very loyal to Father all the same," Canada replied, taking off her glasses and cleaning them. "Nessa's just too stubborn to change anything quickly and too angry to accept the way Father treated her at the Battle of Albert." She sighed. "She's my sister, but sometimes I feel like we're drifting further and further apart." A bitter laugh. "It was the same with Alfred. Except now _I'm_ the one changing." She set her glasses back on her nose and sat down on her bed. The covers had an unpleasant floral pattern on them and New Zealand longed for home, where the sheets were only white right after they were washed and floral patterns were reserved for the wealthy and pompous on his islands.

As he sat down next to his half-sister she began to tear up again. "It's really over, isn't it?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes and trying to dismiss the tears before they could really start again. "The Great War's finished. I keep having n-nightmares, that's I'm back i-in the trenches. It was so hard. I'm scared I'll have to, have to go back." She was curled into herself, trying to hide her tears from her half-brother without much luck.

New Zealand decided to stop thinking and pulled Canada in for a hug. She didn't stiffen in surprise or stop crying for a moment, something he half-expected her to do, just heaved another quiet sob and threw her arm around his shoulders.

"I w-want to g-go home," she whimpered into his front. "I haven't been there in y-years."

"It's okay," New Zealand assured. "You're going home soon, we all are." Canada coughed a little into his front and didn't respond.

When Canada's cry had slowed to the occasional hiccup and sniffle, she pulled away. "I'm so sorry for dumping this on you," she muttered, licking her lips and rubbing at her cheeks again.

"No, it's fine," New Zealand assured. "I came here to make sure you were all right, after all."

"I suppose you have your answer," Canada said with a wet laugh. She brushed a hand over her short hair. "I miss my braids," she said mournfully. "I know it's stupid and petty, but I do."

"You're hair was really pretty long," New Zealand agreed absently. "I hated it when you got it cut." He bit his tongue immediately afterwards and flushed, realising exactly what he had just said. But Canada seemed neither bothered nor pleased by the compliment, only stood and searched the room for a handkerchief.

"Thank you," Canada finally said, blowing her nose into the fabric. "For everything."

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A/N: Well, that was a lot longer than expected. I fully intended to put this in with _Plus Brilliant Exploit_, but it got a little out of hand. And since I am neither from Australia or New Zealand, feel free to correct any mistakes I made with characterisation. I might do these guys again and I'd love any corrections and advice you can give me.

Skippable historical/cultural notes:  
-The title Article Five refers to the fifth article of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. It essentially said colonies should have as much influence on whether they remain colonial possessions or not as the governments that possessed them. In fact, have a quote:  
"A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined."  
-Yes, I make New Zealand the older brother. Australia was originally a penal colony, after all.  
-They also bicker like England and France. Nothing I've ever seen from an Aussie or Kiwi has told me contrary.  
-The not-quite-countries mentioned here, excluding India, are all Dominions of the British Empire. Basically, they had responsible government.  
-Newfoundland (human name: Nessa) was basically shredded during the war, particularly at the Somme.  
-Newfoundland was also really loyal to the Empire, especially compared to the other Dominions.  
-The Dominions were basically ignored at most of the negotiations after the war. There were representitives who signed for them, but they were more or less ignored in favour of the Big Four (Britain, America, France, and Italy).  
-But the Dominions (and _maybe_ India) did sign the Treaty of Versailles. It wasn't necessary, because Britain technically signed for them, but they signed on their own anyways.  
-I do not have to explain Canada's pure badassery in WWI, right?  
-Canada was, I believe, the first Dominion in the Empire. Originally, she was going to be the Kindom of Canada or something, but that would've annoyed the _very_ anti-monarchy Americans, so the Empire was pragmatic instead.  
-Newfoundland is a Dominion you do _not_ mess around with. For a long time the Empire refused to recognise her as anything other than a seasonal fishing post when there were at least 15 000 year-round residents who claimed land. That's right. Newfoundland was colonised _in spite_ of the Empire.  
-I love writing New Zealand as a slighty dorky romantic on the inside. This has, as far as I can tell, no historical relevance at all.

Thank you very much for reading!


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